Petra Dersch

Petra Dersch (born May 22, 1965 in Gießen ) is a German microbiologist and professor at the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster .

Live and act

Dersch began studying biology at the University of Konstanz in 1984 , which she graduated with a diploma in 1990. From 1991 she worked at the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg under the supervision of Erhard Bremer on her doctorate, which she completed in 1995. Dersch then worked as a postdoc with Ralph Isberg at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Boston until 1998 . In 1998 she returned to Germany and became a research assistant at the Free University of Berlin . In 2003 she became a junior group leader at the Robert Koch Institute . In 2005 Dersch qualified as a professor at the Free University of Berlin in microbiology.

From 2005 Dersch held a professorship for microbiology at the TU Braunschweig . Since 2008 she has also been head of the Molecular Infection Biology department at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Braunschweig. She is also a member of various boards and advisory boards, including the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research . In 2019 Dersch moved to a full chair for microbiology at the University of Münster , where she also became head of the Institute for Infectology. She is also vice-president of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology and a full member of the Central Commission for Biosafety .

Dersch's research focuses primarily on the exploration of the molecular interactions between bacterial pathogens and epithelial and endothelial cell barriers using suitable model systems and the development of diagnostic and therapeutic options for infectious diseases. A particular focus is on researching the corresponding immune reactions.

Web links

• Literature by and about Petra Dersch in the catalog of the German National Library
• CV at the University of Münster